1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the technologies of remote control of vehicle functions such as engine enabling and disabling, throttle and speed governors, and the like.
2. Background of the Invention
Vehicles of all types, be it trucks, boats, cars, or airplanes, are subject to theft, hijacking and flight from law enforcement. In fact, often times, vehicles which are being pursued by law enforcement are also stolen or hijacked. So, often, two of these conditions exist simultaneously.
Owners of fleets of vehicles such as rental car companies and over-the-road trucking companies often install special monitoring and communications systems which report each vehicle's location, and allow for remote disabling of the engine and locking or unlocking of the doors. Such commercial grade systems allow for tracking of the vehicle using on-board Global Positioning Systems (“GPS”) and wireless communications such as two-way paging networks, cellular and Personal Communications Systems (“PCS”) data links, and other wireless communications systems. Companies such as At Road Inc., eTracker Inc., and Racor Industries provide these systems to the commercial fleet operators at costs which are prohibitive for use in typical private vehicles, as the cost of the dedicated hardware mounted in the vehicle is too expensive for the only function they provide—tracking and monitoring.
LoJack Corporation provides a system which is more cost effective for private vehicle operators, with a nominal hardware initial cost followed by monthly service charges. LoJack, though, has not found widespread use and acceptance as even their cost structure is out of reach for many ordinary vehicle owners.
An additional problem with many of these types of systems is that their engine enablement/disablement capabilities are relatively unintelligent. For example, if a code is transmitted to a car to disable then engine, normally, the engine will not be disabled until the car is at rest. In some cases, the engine is not actually disabled while it is running, but rather is disabled from being restarted. These approaches are adopted to avoid “killing” a vehicle engine while it is moving, such as while it is pulling into traffic, which could pose a serious safety problem.
As such, many of these systems are of little assistance to law enforcement when pursuing a vehicle equipped with such a system as the engine disabling function would only take effect when, and if, the car is stopped.
Other technologies have been developed for attempting to disable vehicles in flight from law enforcement, include tire puncturing devices (e.g. “stop sticks”) and engine stalling “guns” which produce an electromagnetic pulse (“EMP”) capable of temporarily disrupting operation of the vehicle's control computer. Both systems, however, lack selectivity (e.g. the EMP can disable pursuing police vehicles and the stop sticks can damage police vehicle tires) and effectiveness, which leaves the pursuing law enforcement in a position of continuing the chase, thereby placing the general public and the agency personnel in danger.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a new technology which provides highly selective control of vehicle functions, enables a continuum of vehicle function control and degradation under specific conditions, and is realizable in technology which will be justifiable in cost and function as an addition to ordinary vehicles.